Worlds of Color and Wonder
by Gabriel Seraph
Summary: Marceline escapes Ooo and soon she finds a door that takes her somewhere else, where she meets a nice teenager named Mac, and a whole house full of imaginary friends who will fight to protect their home - especially when her too many suitors show up! Part 1 of the Marceline's Odyssey Trilogy. AU, possible limes, bloody hilarity, in-universe shipping wars: Marcy/EVERYBODY.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This story is very odd and weird, and relies heavily on in-universe shipping wars (for which I, for personal health reasons, stay politically neutral). If such things annoy and/or disorientate you, please leave now.

Otherwise, enjoy!

Oh, and since I am not Dan Brown, I have no problem saying, any and all errors made are my own.

Chapter 1

Marceline opened the door and gasped at the sight on the other side. It looked like she was still in the Land of Ooo, but instinctively she knew she wasn't. After all, Ooo was just made up of a bunch of light and magic to hide the fact that it was truly a dead world. This world looked as if it were still alive, or at least on its last chance before falling victim to a major catastrophe like the Great Mushroom War.

She took one nervous step through the door, only to nearly land on her back as a blue...thing...blitzed down the hall past her, wielding a paddleball like a sword and dancing on a fast-moving skateboard. "Try and catch me now, Lord Snooty!" he yelled behind him. Marceline turned to look, just barely managing to dodge out of the way of a rabbit in a top hat, bounding down the hall towards the blue thing, which Marceline now realized looked like an old-fashioned deodorant tube.

Quietly following the rabbit and the blue thing, Marceline found herself at the top of a staircase, which she descended, stopping at a landing with two other directions in which to go - straight ahead and upstairs, or downstairs to a large foyer, with a large double door marking what she hoped was the exit.

She made her way towards the door, opened it, and then stopped short. Sunlight was pouring down, and Marceline hadn't thought to take sunscreen with her when she left. Pulling her hat as far down over her face as possible, she attempted to brave the sunlight, but faltered as her skin began to burn.

Seconds later, a teenage boy walked past her, wearing a red-and-black striped hoodie. Spotting her, he turned and asked, "Who are you? Are you a new imaginary friend?"

"Imaginary friend?" Marceline repeated slowly. "Um, no. Tell you the truth, I'm actually kinda lost."

"That's okay," said the boy, pulling his hood off to reveal a light tan face framed with overlong, dark brown hair. Marceline tilted her head, the better to see the faint pulse of veins and arteries in his neck, but instead found her eyes drawn to his. The same color as his hair, the boy's eyes were deep-set and strangely hypnotic. Marceline found that they reminded her of the Ice King's genderswapped version of herself, especially with his all red-and-black wardrobe.

She shuddered as these thoughts entered her mind. _Best not to think about what happened before,_ she chastised herself. _What's past is past._

"Here," said the boy. "Let me help you get where you need to go." He took Marceline's hand and attempted to lead her out into the sunlight, but she held back, not wanting to fry.

"No, thanks," she said. Attempting to explain herself further, she continued, "I just need a moment to think. Maybe I'll remember where I'm supposed to go after a bit."

"If you say so, um...what was your name again?"

"Marceline."

The boy smiled. "Nice name. I'm Mac. Good to meet you." He was about to go inside, but then stopped. "Here, take my hoodie. If you're gonna be outside in this weather, best you stay warm."

Marceline hadn't even noticed that it was actually a cold winter morning. Being a vampire, she was totally insensitive to changes in temperature anyway. "Well, thanks," she said anyway, taking the proffered hoodie and putting it on. "You sure you don't need to stay warm?"

"Nah," said Mac, his breath shining in the sun. "I got a million spares at home. Nobody'll ever notice one's missing. Keep it if you like." He waved good-bye and disappeared inside. Marceline sighed and sat on the cold hard wood of the veranda, staring at her sneaker-clad feet. Was that a tear in her eyes? Sure enough, it was, unbelievably. Marceline decided to chalk it up to her bottled-up emotions, which had really been thrown through the wringer in the last few days. Silently, she cursed Princess Bubblegum and her stupid, rotten, useless experiments.

They were the reason she was in her current mess.

AN: Good so far? R&R please! Oh, and before you ask, yes, Mac is a teenager in this story, for reasons I hope to soon make clear.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I really hope I get Lady's Korean dialogue (and B-MO's gender) right. If not, I would hope someone lets me know.

Chapter 2

Two days earlier, in the Land of Ooo...

"Seriously?" Marceline muttered under her breath, glaring out across the grassy plain towards Finn and Jake's tree house. "Not them too. I thought Finn would be too nice for that sort of thing. And Jake, doesn't he care too much about you?"

"_Geuge naega saeng-gaghaessdeon geoya," _Lady Rainicorn sighed.

Marceline frowned. "Well, I'm gonna see if I can go talk some sense into those morons."

Lady smirked, looking more devilish than seemed possible for a Rainicorn. "_Haeng-un-eul bibnida_." She retreated into the shadows while Marceline crossed the plain.

But Marceline never made it to the tree house. Finn and Jake spotted her from a distance and ran out the door to intercept her. "Marcy!" yelled Jake. "Come back here! We just wanna talk to you!" But the odd kissing motions his mouth was making betrayed his true intentions. Finn suffered the same inability to mask his deception in the heat of the moment.

B-MO followed the boy and his dog, waddling along on her stubby little legs. "Boys!" she yelled. "I advise you to refrain from further action! This is very socially unacceptable!"

"Shut up!" Finn yelled behind him. "What are you, the Lemongrabs?"

Neither Marceline nor B-MO knew quite what to think. Finn was never this rude, never. Clearly the experiment had affected him even more substantially than they'd previously thought.

Marceline pulled the small, shotgun-shell-sized tube from her pocket and examined it momentarily. Then she spat on it furiously, and threw it directly at Finn and Jake. "Is this what you're after?" she yelled as the tube sailed through its aerial arc. "Then go get it and leave me alone!" She floated back and hid behind the bush, where Lady Rainicorn was waiting. "It's official, this is too much freaking insanity for me," she griped. "Thank Glob you're not affected."

"_Nuga dangsin-eul wihae naleul michige mandeulji haessdago balghyeossda?"_ Lady giggled. Seeing the look on Marceline's face, she hastily added, "_Geogjeonghaji maseyo. Geugeos-eun geunyang nongdam iya."_

Marceline shook her head, then turned to watch as Finn and Jake descended on the tube Marceline had thrown at them. "I gotta get out of here," she said. "Lady, do you have any idea where to go?"

Lady turned her head to the west. "_Geu gil-eul gaya hago, sangsang-ui chinguleul wihae gajeong-eul chaj-eul su issseubnida._"

"If you say so," said Marceline. "Thanks, Lady. Should I ask for anyone in particular?"

"Er..." Lady's face clouded over as she struggled with her English pronunciation. "His name is...Finlay J. Ward."

"Finlay J. Ward," repeated Marceline. "Good to know. Thanks again. Don't forget to keep my old place guarded!" She turned away and started floating out west. _Away from the sunrise_, she thought. _That's good._ She pulled her hat down and sped up, hoping to put Peebles' disastrous failure behind her as quickly as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Once the sun started setting, Marceline was able to venture off the porch and into the chilly winter evening. She crossed through a gate, above which a metal archway was twisted into the shape of a word. "Foster's." It meant nothing to her, since it was part of some other world. _Which I should start exploring in greater detail_, Marceline thought. _It'd be useful to know if there's anywhere to easily hide from the Ooovians._

She set off down the road, which sloped steeply downhill after a while as it passed through a string of eucalyptus trees. Along the way, she came across a street sign marked "Bollinger Drive - City of San Castiel." Across the street was a road marked "Freeway Entrance: 280 South, Santa Marina." Seeing the fast-moving cars zipping by on the nearby highway, Marceline chose to give it a miss. Instead, she traipsed up Bollinger Drive, where she soon found a small round building. A sign outside proclaimed it as "Mary's Restaurant and Pies. Open 24 hours."

_Open 24 hours?_ Marceline thought. _Sounds like a great idea._ She stepped into the restaurant and was instantly greeted by a short blonde server.

"Welcome to Mary's," the woman said in an annoyingly perky voice. "Would you like a seat?"

"Um, sure," said Marceline.

The server led her to a free table. "Just yourself?" she asked. Marceline nodded, and the woman continued. "Okay. My name is Olive and I will be your server today. What would you like to have?"

Marceline consulted the menu and found an entry mentioning steak. "Um, I'd like the New York strip," she said.

"How would you like it cooked?" asked Olive.

"Rare, please."

Olive gave her a double take. "Are you sure?" Marceline merely stared back at her. "Well, it's your health risk. Say, aren't you one of those imaginary friends?"

Now it was Marceline's turn for a double take. "Imaginary friends? You're not talking about that weird mansion up on the hill, are you?"

"That's the place," she said. "Foster's. They do a great service to the lost imaginary friends after the kids are forced to let 'em go. Bless the old lady's heart. But you don't live there?"

"No," said Marceline. "But I guess I might have to."

Olive smiled. "So you _are _an imaginary friend! Wonderful! In that case, don't bother paying for your steak. Imaginary friends always eat free here. What kind of friend are you? A goth? A vampire?"

Marceline bit her lip gently. "A vampire."

"Must've been some really sad little kid who made you. I bet you were a real comfort to them, huh?" Olive pocketed her notepad. "I'll be back soon with your order. Um, anything to drink?"

"Got anything berry-related?"

"There's strawberry Fanta," said Olive.

"Strawberry Fanta, then." Marceline leaned back in her seat and looked out the large window next to her table. The restaurant was built on a hillside right over the freeway, and on the other side was an enormous cemetery, with gravestones stretching as far as the eye could see. _Wow,_ Marcy thought. _What kind of crazy people build a cemetery that big? And who opens a restaurant right next to one?_

Soon, Olive returned with the soda and steak for Marceline. "Hey, if you're still planning to go to Foster's...maybe you should hand thsi flier off to someone up there. There's this boy called Mac, he goes up there all the time and he lives practically by himself, poor kid. I've been trying to get him to come here, but he never seems to get the message. He could really do with some feeding up, you know?"

"I get it," said Marceline, remembering how thin and underfed-looking Mac had been when they'd met outside the front door of Foster's. "Hey, before you leave...would you by any chance know anything about this person? His name is..." She fought to remember what it was Lady had told her before she left Ooo. "F-Finlay J. Ward."

Olive considered. "No. Don't think I've ever heard of him. But I've only just come to this town about a month ago, so I'm not exactly the one to go to ask who lives where. Try a phone book, if they still make 'em here out west."

"Thanks anyway," Marceline said, getting up to leave.

* * *

Up the hill, inside Foster's, the Ice King emerged from a door next to the bottom of the main staircase. He looked around and stopped the first sentient being to cross his path - a short, thin green fuzzy thing with one eye. "Hey you!" the Ice King yelled. "Any chance have you seen a tall, glamorous young woman go by? Thin, white skin, wears all red and black?"

"A girl?" the green guy asked in a surprisingly deep voice. "Sure you're not talking about Mac?"

"What? No! It's a girl! Her name is Marceline! Don't you know where she is?"

The green guy crossed his thin arms. "Sorry, can't help you." The Ice King drifted out the front door, clearly aggrieved. "I always knew Mac was a bit of a weirdo," the green guy muttered to himself, "but this really crosses the line."

AN: BTW, for those wondering, yes, Olive from Pushing Daisies features in this chapter. She will be a minor character throughout this fic, so keep an eye out!


	4. Chapter 4

AN: As far as I'm aware, "Time is Running Out" has never been featured on any edition of _Rock Band._ Call it Artistic License.

Chapter 4

Marceline took a second after leaving the restaurant to get her bearings and remember the exact set of different streets she'd taken after leaving the odd mansion. Once she had a general idea of where she was going, she set off back up the hill, past rows of houses and eucalyptus trees on steep terrain. She kept her head down most of the time to avoid attention. Had she not done so, she might well have spotted the Ice King as he drifted down the hill towards the restaurant, still searching for her.

Instead, Marceline got to make her way back to Foster's undisturbed. She opened the door, pleasantly surprised that nobody was there to greet her, and that the lights were still on despite the lateness of the hour. She climbed the stairs and checked the door she'd came in through, but found nothing inside except a couple of brooms and a dustpan. A closet. How typical. Why were interdimensional portals always found in closets?

Marceline then stiffened. She heard a faint booming noise coming from somewhere upstairs. It sounded like a rock concert at a distance. Sure enough, when she went upstairs (climbing no less than ten stories, which to Marceline seemed impossible given the building was only about seventy feet high), she found a number of imaginary friends and one human in the middle of playing a video game with fake guitars, drums, and a mike. A logo reading "_Rock Band_" was emblazoned on every item. They were playing a weird, psychedelic-sounding song that wouldn't have sounded out of place in Ooo, especially with its references to the impossible time of nine in the afternoon.

As Marceline stepped into the room (wondering as she did so when she'd stopped floating and started walking like live humans), she realized the one human, who was belting out the lyrics like there was no tomorrow, was Mac. He had already found himself another red and black hoodie to replace the one he'd lent her. Marceline stood awkwardly behind the couch, watching as a big purple Bigfoot type murdered the drums, a redheaded girl in a green jacket played with one guitar bit, and the little blue thing that had skateboarded past her earlier played the other. She soon found herself air-guitaring the bass parts, watching as the notes flew by on one part of the three-way split screen.

Feeling like an intruder, Marceline started making to leave, but then the song ended and everybody applauded each other, and Mac turned around and noticed her lurking behind them. "Hey, Marceline! Where've you been?"

The redheaded girl turned to Mac and asked, "Wait, you know this girl? She's not your girlfriend, is she?"

"I didn't know you had a _novia_, Señor Mac," said Bigfoot.

Mac shook his head. "No, Ed, she's not my girlfriend. She's just an imaginary friend I found on the doorstep today."

"Well, if she's an imaginary friend, how come Herriman never processed her?" asked the redhead.

"Who cares?" said the blue guy. "Let's play!"

Mac held up his hands. "Well, howsabout we invite Marcy to play with us? What are you best at, huh? Bass? Drums?"

"Bass," Marceline whispered, then repeated after Mac asked her to speak up.

"Ugh!" grumbled the blue guy. "Now I can't play!"

"Bloo, relax," said the redhead. "You suck at this game anyway."

"You suck at every game," laughed Ed.

"Shut up, Frankie," muttered Bloo. "And you too, Eduardo." He slid off the couch and left the room in a huff, leaving the guitar controller behind for Marceline.

"Any songs you like?" asked Mac.

Marceline shrugged. "Don't really know what's on here. You pick."

"Great!" said Mac, clapping his hands. "Then we'll start with one of my favorites, 'Time is Running Out.' Get ready...and go!" He selected the song, and soon a darkly bouncy alt-rock beat filled the room, allowing everyone to get their groove on once again.


End file.
